This application describes an apparatus for supporting and positioning a body part of a patient during medical procedures, and more particularly describes a device developed in the context of supporting and positioning the patient's head during surgery of the spine.
During preparation for surgery, and during the surgery itself, it is necessary for the surgical team to support and position the patient's head in a way that allows appropriate access to the surgical site. Typical pre-existing positioning devices have multiple adjustments that require several members of the surgical team to participate in head positioning—one member to operate one or more of the adjustments and one member to support the patient's head during adjustment. This can be a time consuming and tedious way to achieve satisfactory positioning. Moreover, some devices allow adjustability in only discrete increments, rather than offering a continuous spectrum of adjustability. The discrete adjustability can result in suboptimal positioning.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a device for support and positioning that can be adjusted by a single person and that provides a wide range of continuous adjustability. It is also desirable to provide a device that can accept a number of different head engagement modules, each of which can be easily attached to or disengaged from the positioning device. It is also desirable to enable the person operating the device to support the weight of the patient's head during position adjustment.